Electra
The Engine of the Future, Electra represents the excitement and danger of the unknown. Wild and startlingly different from everyone else, Electra brings star presence with his entourage of Components. Personality Electra is arrogant, supremely self confident and self centred. He is extremely attractive, elegant and powerful. Electra is very used to getting exactly what he wants, when he wants, thanks to his personal entourage who enforce his will and cater to his every desire. While generally portrayed by a male actor, there have been numerous occasions where the role has been played by a female understudy, and the subtext to "AC/DC" suggest that Electra is both bisexual and genderfluid, in short, an androgynous character who chooses not to follow rules. This is in direct contrast to his main rival Greaseball, who is as masculine and testosterone-fuelled as possible. Role Entering as a surprise contestant, Electra shows up just as Control is about to close entries. His approach drains the power to the train yard, causing a black-out and loss of movement to the other characters. Out of the gloom, a laser shoots out, and one by one Electa's components emerge. They build the anticipation calling for "Electra, Electra!" Finally he appears from above, shockingly outrageous yet magnetically attractive ("AC/DC"). During his song he glances around and decides Pearl is suitably shiny to be his race partner, and literally draws her to him, despite Rusty's protests. Indeed Rusty is the only character strong enough to resist Electra's attraction. However Electra doesn't always get his way; during Pumping Iron he temporarily loses half his components to Greaseball's rock'n'roll appeal. Greaseball and Electra are the main rivals for the title of Champion - none of the other characters consider Rusty a viable competitor. When Pearl doesn't immediately respond positively to Electra's message sent through Purse, he finds her in person and easily persuades her to race with him, not Rusty. In the Original production, Electra raced with Pearl in Heat 2 and beat Rusty and Belle. However when the races were re-formatted to a more condensed format, Electra races head to head with Greaseball, and they draw in a dead heat, leaving their feud to be decided in the final race. During The Rap, Electra finally loses control of Pearl. He decides second best would be Dinah, and dispatches Purse to fetch her. However Dinah is never a satisfactory partner, too easily distracted by the sight of her ex, Greaseball, and she complains far too much. So when she disconnects him, he turns to Caboose, despite him revealing his traitorous nature to Electra. Caboose's insane manoeuvrings in the final race end up being Electra's downfall, causing a crash that allows Rusty to take the lead, and the title. In the original production, Electra is humiliated by losing the race, and storms off in an electric tantrum, screaming "No Comeback" in fury. He'd lost the race, and lost his dignity, proven to not be the best by a steam train! Having no way to save face after such a humiliating loss, he swore to leave and never return. However this number was cut from the Broadway and consequent productions, where instead Electra is involved in the crash that also damages Greaseball and Caboose, and therefore sings "One Rock'n'Roll Too Many". He somewhat sarcastically asks Poppa if he could also be converted to steam - the very suggestion enrages his Components. But all is sweetness and light by the end of the show. Components Electra's components take care of his most important priorities: *Krupp , the Armaments Truck - Security Guard *Purse , the Money Truck - Accountant *Wrench , the Repair Truck - Medic *Volta , the Freezer Truck - Stylist *Joule , the Dynamite Truck - Note: Joule was originally the animal truck, carrying Electra's pets, but from Broadway onwards she became the dynamite truck. They also each represent a duty of a rockstar's entourage - Krupp is security, Purse the accountant. Wrench represents the medic (personal physiotherapist perhaps), Volta the stylist, and Joule the pet minder. Electra's five components has been fairly continuous throughout productions, apart from the Japan/Australia tours which increased his entourage to 8 by doubling up Joule, Volta and Krupp. The US/UK Tours reduced the Components to 4 by cutting Krupp. Appearance Electra's costume is a classic example of 1980s futurism, all strong angles, complex compound shapes, and futuristic metallic textures. As technology has advanced, Electra's costume has developed electronic lights built in to his chest box and wig, and wrist-mounted fireworks to create an arc of sparks. However he has retained the essentially very 1980s silhouette of big box shapes contrasted against a slim body. The "On Ice" production completely re-invented most elements of his costume, the only similarity is the mohawk wig. Rather than red and electric blue, Electra wore warning sign yellow and grey. Gallery London L84 The Rap GB Electra Rusty.jpg|The Rap, London 1984 L84 Electra Pearl Heat 2.jpg|Heat Two, 1984 L84 No Comeback.jpg|No Comeback, 1984 London Electra Components 6.jpg|Original Cast press call, 1984 L91 Electra Components.jpg|Mykal Rand, London 1991 L94 Electra Components.jpg|Electra and Components, 1994 L Electra John Partridge 1.jpg|John Partridge, 1992 L98 Electra.jpg|Grant Anthony, 1998 London 2000 Electra Pearl Dinah.jpg|Chris Copeland, 2000 L Electra Nancy Wood jackie50.jpg|Nancy Wood, cover Electra 1980s Leaflet9.JPG|Poster, London 1999 Bochum B89 Dinah Disco.jpg|Dinah disconnects Electra, Bochum 1989 B06 Downhill Final.jpg|Downhill Final, Bochum 2006 B06 Electra Caboose Greaseball.jpg|One Rock'n'Roll Too Many, Bochum 2006 B89 electra.jpg|David Michael Johnson, Bochum 1989 B_Rusty_Electra_Ashley.jpg|Koffi Missah as Electra, Bochum 1991 B92 Electra Krupp Wrench.jpg|Mykal Rand as Electra, Bochum 1992 B 94 Electra JE Parker.jpg|John Eric Parker B 2001 Electra Paul Jay Dudley.jpg|Paul Jay Dudley B04_01.jpg|Richard Woodford as Electra, Bochum 2004 B Electra Components backstage.jpg|Electra and Components backstage, Bochum B16 03 Electra.jpg|Richard Woodford as Electra 2016 Others J90 Electra Components.jpg|Mykal Rand, Japan 1990 J90 41.jpg|Mykal Rand, Japan 1990 Uk12 sg.jpg|Mykal Rand UK tour 2012 Starlight Express Promo Material 007.jpg|Promotional material, UK Tour 2004 UK13 Singapore Electra Pearl Rusty.jpg|Mykal Rand as Electra, Hong Kong 2013 Cast London (1984-2002) *Jeffrey Daniel (original Electra) *Tom Jobe *Maynard Williams *Mykal Rand *Koffi Missah *Christian Hughes *Greg Ellis *John Partridge *Richard Mylan *Chris Lennon *Spencer Stafford *Grant Anthony *Chris Copeland Bochum (1988-ongoing) *Eric Clausell *David Michael Johnson *C.E. Wallace Jr. *Koffi Missah *Mykal Rand *John Eric Parker *Andreas Wolfram *Paul Hazel *Robert Drummond *Paul J. Dudley *Richard Woodford (Current) *Leon Maurice Jones *Gareth Bretherton *Jason Guest *Paul Shipp *Jeffrey Socia Broadway *Ken Ard (1987) Japan/Australia Tour *David Michael Johnson (1987-1988) *Mykal Rand (1990) US Tours *Eric Clausell (1989-1991) *Dustin Dubreuil (2003) UK Tours (2004-2008, 2012-2013) *Mykal Rand Las Vegas (1993-1997) *Anthony T. Perry *Eric Clausell *Reginald H Jennings Starlight on Ice (1997-1998) *Hank Green Expreso Astral (1997-1998) *Jaime Rojas Category:Characters Category:Engines